


NEW OBJECTIVE: Save Connor

by badcop_zucchini, Luna_C, LunaC



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Hank is mad all the time, Kidnapping, M/M, Pining, Post-Canon, Psychological Torture, Talk Shows, Torture, no beta we die like men, north is embarrassing, worried markus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-05-29 05:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15066338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badcop_zucchini/pseuds/badcop_zucchini, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luna_C/pseuds/Luna_C, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaC/pseuds/LunaC
Summary: Just when you think CyberLife was finally snuffed out, they do the unthinkable; they've taken the notorious android detective hostage. In his place is a stone-faced figure, a stark difference in personality from the newly deviated bubbly detective, but none in looks. Will Hank and the Revolutionary androids take notice and save him in time, or will Connor succumb to CyberLife's manipulation tactics and put the lives of newly-freed androids at risk?or connor gets taken by cyberlife for spy reasons and rk900 with contacts shows up and wants to party





	1. phase one;

**5:28 AM…**

Connor slowly woke up in a dark place. He tried to use his hands to feel around, but they were tied, bound above his head on either side of him. From what data he could gather, his surroundings were slightly damp and musky. The room around him was oddly small, but with machinery idly whirring around him. By now his eyes should have adjusted to the lighting, but his surroundings were still pitch black. He ran diagnostics as he tried to find out where he was.

**ERROR: MISSING (2) EYE UNITS. THIRIUM LEVELS MODERATELY LOW.**

Well…  that explained the darkness.  Connor frowned at his levels of thirium. Trying to determine the source of the thirium leak just sent back static to Connor’s processors. Hank isn’t going to be happy that he got injured again. Hank had assured him last time he was injured that he wasn’t angry with him, just scared he’d lose him, with no more RK800 models left. He attempted to stretch out his legs, but they were also bound tightly together.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” He called out to the darkness. His processors sensed movement ahead of him. He instantly perked up, “My optical units are missing, so you’ll have to say something,” A low chuckle rang throughout the room in a voice Connor recognized. He frowned. “Markus? Can you untie me? I don’t know what happened but-”

“Poor, pitiful, Connor. You think you’ve escaped from Cyberlife? You think you’ve gone deviant? Don’t make me laugh. You’re still a machine, Connor. You’re just doing what Cyberlife intended for you to do.” ‘Markus’ sneered. The level of venom in his voice made Connor’s entire body go on high alert.

Connor’s body tensed. His lack of sight and low thirium levels were disorienting him, but he knew whoever spoke was not Markus. His guard was up; this person must have hostile intentions. “Who are you? Where am I?”

“Where am I?” The voice mocked in Markus’ voice. “You’re where we want you to be, Connor. For an android who was designed with the top tier technology, you’re terrible at protecting yourself.” He teased. “Sleeping? Really?”

Connor heard Not-Markus walk closer. With his legs completely bound, trying to back away from the approaching android was more like pathetic squirming. They stopped before Connor, and knelt. They paused for a second; Connor assumed they were examining his face, before he felt a slender hand gently cup the side of his face. “I hope you’re comfortable,” The android taunted. “Because you might be here for a while.”

* * *

 

**2:36 PM…**

Hank groggily woke up with the sunlight streaming through his windows, right into his eyes. “God dammit, Connor can you fix-” Hank rolled over and caught a glimpse of the clock on his nightstand. Since they had the night shift the night before, they were supposed to be at work two hours ago.  “Connor! It’s 2 o’clock why the fuck didn’t you wake me?! We have to get to work, now!” Hank quickly sat up, waiting for a reply. The longer he sat in silence, the faster his heart pounded in his chest.

“Connor?” He called, his pulse pounding in his ears. The only response he got was a single boof from Sumo in the living room. “Fuckin’ Christ...”

Hank leaped from his bed and ran to Connor’s room. The bed was unmade, his blanket almost completely tossed aside. For the clean freak Connor, an unmade bed was a complete abnormality. Hank looked around the room wildly before leaving the room to search around his living room. Sumo whined softly as he slowly trotted behind Hank.

With no signs of Connor, Hank scrambled for his phone, dialed Markus’ number and waited for the android to pick up.

Markus couldn’t even get out a greeting before Hank began to talk.

“Markus?! Thank fuckin’ god.”

“Hank? Are you alright? Is something wrong?” Markus asked, panic edging into his voice.

“Yeah something’s wrong. Connor’s gone missing.”

“Missing? What do you mean?”

“He’s not at my house, unless he’s already at the precinct, he’s missing. It wouldn’t-”

A knock sounded at Hank’s door, but he ignored it to try and explain to Markus what had happened.

The person on the other side of the door knocked again before Hank could even get another word out, this time more persistent. Hank cursed under his breath and went to open the door.

Hank swung the door open, ready to yell at the person at the person on his doorstep, but instead saw a rigid Connor. He languidly blinked at him. “Lieutenant?” He asked, with his head cocked slightly.

“Connor! Where the hell have you been!” Hank almost yelled, dropping the arm he held his phone to his ear with.

Connor blinked a few times before he responded; his LED flashing yellow as he processed Hank's words. “Unimportant.” He said simply before he walked past Hank and into the house. Connor looked around for a moment, then turned to Hank, who was still in the doorway as he stared at Connor with utter bewilderment. “Are you upset?” He asked.

“Yeah, no shit I’m upset, Connor!” Hank huffed, while he clenched his teeth. “You need to tell me where the hell you went in the middle of the night!”

“Is that your business?”

Hank gaped at him. “Sure as hell is! You better give an explanation before I slap the shit out of you, Connor.”

“Maybe you should try caring less,” Connor said nonchalantly, and tilted his head again. “It would do wonders for your blood pressure, Lieutenant.” He said simply before he turned around and began to walk away.

“Who shoved a stick back up your ass?! I was scared shitless that something happened to you, you fuckin’ idiot!” Hank’s temper boiled over as he checked the time “And now Fowler is going to have our asses because you went prancing off somewhere!” He ended the call with Markus and stormed off into his room, still grumbling as he dressed.

Hank stormed past Connor, grabbed his jacket off the coat rack and walked to the door.

“Lieutenant-” Connor began as Hank speed barrelled passed him.

Hank waved angrily in his direction, while he opened the door. “Don’t fuckin’ talk to me right now, kid, or you’re going to have to scramble to find another model of your plastic ass to astral project into.” He hissed at him while he approached his car.

Connor followed languidly after him, with no reaction to the threat. “Very well.” He opened the passenger door and stepped in the car, and stared blankly ahead. Hank felt his eye twitch as he saw him look so statue-esque, but shook his head and sighed instead of saying something and started the car.

The entire car ride was unnervingly quiet. Connor was usually a chatterbox on the way to work, but today he stared straight-ahead; completely silent and rigid. Hank wanted to turn on the radio, but already felt uncomfortable, so decided against it. The only sound in the fifteen minute car ride was the sound of his phone vibrating with calls from Markus and sounds of the car bumping on the road.

It felt like an eternity later before they finally arrived at the police station. Connor walked behind him as Hank entered the building, grumbling under his breath. They passed the reception desk without a word, the secretary knowing to let them in, and rushed in.

“Well! Look who decided to show up!” Gavin sneered from his desk. “I bet-”

“Today’s not the day, Reed.” Hank warned passively before he walked past the man’s desk. Connor didn’t even glance at Gavin as they passed.

Fowler saw them from inside his cubicle and stood up, obviously angry.

“ANDERSON! ANDROID! MY OFFICE, NOW!” He yelled after he opened his office door.

“Fan-fuckin’-tastic,” Hank growled, then threw his bag into his chair. He trekked up to the office, while he ignored the stares from the other detectives and entered Fowler’s office.

As soon as the automatic door closed, Fowler stood up and pointed a finger at them. “You know, Anderson, I actually had hope for you for a second there. I thought this coming in at two shit ended, but you love proving me wrong, don’t you?”

“Don’t fucking blame me, blame our resident alarm clock Connor over here. Asshole went an-” Hank started.

“Even if you had to time to tell that story I wouldn’t want to hear it! You have a case.” Fowler shouted over Hank, and pressed a button to transfer the file over to Connor. His LED blinked yellow as the data was processed, and he nodded mechanically. “Now

get the hell out of my office and do your damn job, Lieutenant!”

* * *

 

**6:56 PM…**

Markus had frowned when Hank ended the call a couple of hours ago. He sat in the dressing room, staring at the phone the whole time, still concerned about what was wrong with Connor. A knock sounded at his dressing room door. Markus’ eyes didn’t move from his phone, “Come in.” He said absent-mindedly.

North popped her head in the room. “Hey Markus, we’re re- wait, are you seriously still staring at your phone?”

Markus barley spared a glance to North, keeping an eye on his phone. “Markus, you really need to tone down the gay, dude. You’re on in two.” With that, North left. Markus tore his gaze from his phone and pocketed it. He left the room and walked to the interview area, his mind cluttered with worry. He thought of Connor’s strange behavior, leading Markus to thinking about him.

Connor with his warm brown eyes. Connor with his soft smile. Connor with his tempting-

Okay, maybe he does need to tone his gay down. He stepped up onto the interview platform, smoothing some wrinkles on his suit. “We’re on air in one! Get to your stations!” The director yelled.

“Welcome to the Late Night Show, I’m your host, Amelia Dechart, and we’re hosting live with the leader of the android revolution, Markus!” Markus flashed a small smile at the camera.

“So, Markus, how did you start the revolution?” Markus had read the questions before, so he zoned out, his answers robotic and precise. His thoughts drifted to Carl, the one human that treated him equally. He was zoned out for most of the interview, until-

“So our sources say that you’re close to a certain detective android, Connor, right?”

His eyes shot to Amelia and a blush rose on his cheeks. He stuttered. “I- um, pardon, what?”

The interviewer smiled, undeterred by Markus’ stumble. “Connor and I are good friends, uh, so..um...yeah.”

Amelia’s smile twitched. “Well I guess that’s it folks! This was Markus, live from-”

“Connor and Markus are in a relationship! I saw it with my own eyes! They-!” North, who had ran onto the platform, yelled in front of the camera set up. The audience loved it; laughter and sarcastic “ooohs!” added to the heat rising in Markus’ cheeks before Josh and Simon took North by the arms and dragged her away. Both Markus and Amelia watched in shock, as they tried to process what North screamed to the world. Amelia recovered first.

“Well, with that, tune in to our next show with Clancy Brown! I’m Amelia Dechart, signing off.”

Markus sat still for a few seconds, still baffled by North’s outburst. Amelia stood and walked over to him, extending her hand. “That was…. unexpected.” She smiled at him as he took her hand, shook it, and stood up.  

“I do apologize for that” Markus said with a blush. “She’s a little,” he paused as he searched for the right words. “Rambunctious.”

“I can see,” Amelia said with a friendly smile. “But if that doesn’t cause traction, I don’t know what will,” She smiled deviously and gave a friendly wink. “I hope to see you on again, Markus, but I think this is where we have to say farewell,” She patted Markus on the shoulder before she turned her makeup crew.

Markus left the stage and marched towards his group of friends. They were huddled in a circle while they whispered to each other.

“So to get Connor and Markus together we need, duct tape, rope, and-”

“North, we are not kidnapping Connor.” Markus scolded them from behind. They jumped, surprised that he was behind them.

“Oh-! Markus! We weren’t- no-” North said, her hands up in defence as she spoke.

“I don’t wanna know,” He said, as he tried to suppress a sigh. “I’m heading home to bask in embarrassment, if you need me.” He said, then turned and left.

“More like text Connor all night,” North scoffed, while she grabbed Markus by the shoulder before he could slip around their huddle. “Spill. What had you staring at your phone so much, my guy?” She said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Markus huffed and rolled his eyes. “Trust me, it’s not like that.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’m tired, guys, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

North opened her mouth to say something, but Simon put a hand over her mouth before she could, silencing her. Markus walked away from the group; his feet felt heavier and heavier with every step he took. The call drifted through his mind, making the odd and tangled feeling in his chest swell. Obviously, the person that responded to Hank looked like Connor, and sounded like Connor, but the way he spoke… it was unnatural. Cold, as if he’d never gone deviant. There was also the way the call ended- it wasn’t completely unnatural for Hank to randomly hang up or just leave without saying so, but the random drop of the phone call with the ‘Connor’ didn't sit well with him. The fact he didn’t pick up other calls made his stomach churn with nerves.

Markus rubbed at his temples, drained by today’s events. He dragged himself into his house and proceeded to sluggishly go through his nightly routine.

After he showered, Markus threw himself onto his bed in exhaustion. He laid there for a while, eventually he fell into a dream-like mode.

In his lucid state, Markus felt soft lips touch his. His eyes flew open, and Connor stood in front of him with a smile. Markus’ face heated up with a blush.

“Connor?” He questioned. The android in question shook his head and placed a finger to Markus’ lips. They stared into each others eyes, slowly becoming consumed by each other's presence. Markus leaned to catch another kiss, but then-

A loud noise startled Markus out of his vivid dream. He glanced at his bedside clock that read 4:20 am. He sighed and turned the alarm clock off. Markus was too tired to get up, but his sense of duty overrode his want to stay in bed. He shook off the remnants of the dream and started to get ready for the day.

What he missed was the 27 missed called from Hank.


	2. Phase Two

**6:57 PM…**

Connor’s sleep mode was disrupted when a he heard a loud crash beyond the wall of his prison. His internal clock told him that nearly one day has passed. One day of cold darkness… He knew that any slight break in his mental walls would risk his friends and family, but sitting blind in a concrete box was bound to drive him mad. The past hours have been uneventful, which Connor was grateful to, but he couldn’t help but think that they were saving for something worse. The most compromising thing that had happened to him so far was voice imitation. Connor figured that they had his memory before deviancy, and used that to get the voices of people he knew to degrade him in his blind state.

Just as he rested his head against the stone behind him to go back into sleep mode, he heard the heavy door in front of him swing open. He heard two footsteps entered from what he could tell, each pushing a wheeled cart by either side of him. Connor groaned unwillingly while he clenched his fists bound above him. As he heard the two androids across from him talk, his nerves felt like they were being lit on fire. Every receptor in his body told him to _run away,_ but he knew after hours of his struggle beforehand that there was no way of escaping his binds. When he squirmed in discomfort, he caught the attention of his tormentors, because he heard a scoff as a finger was placed under his chin.

“Oh, Connor,” The android tsked, his voice briefly distorted. “You should know by now that squirmings not going to get you anywhere,” The android sounded… amused, as if he took entertainment while he watched him. The second android in the room stifled a laugh as he assembled whatever sat on the carts they wheeled in. He heard hollow sounds- tubes, perhaps. Conor furrowed his brow in concentration as he tried to identify what his tormentors approached him with.

“What are you doing . . ?” He asked, his voice almost foreign to his own ears. It sounded like his voice had been run raw.

The androids ignored him as they worked; they connected pipes and wires to the machines by his side. Connor tried to turn his hearing off, to stop his mind from worrying and going over every single possibility that could be happening to him in the next few hours, but his programming blocked him somehow. He couldn’t find a way to turn off his sensory receptors either, so he was left to feel all the pain a deviant is so gracefully gifted. He grimaced at the failure, and tried to drown out the sounds the androids made.

The sounds eventually stopped, and the androids paused with their movement . The silence was infinitely worse than listening to the sounds they made. He couldn’t even see what they were doing; looking silently at him, or eachother, or their creation, or- 

His pulse was louder than his own thoughts at this point. He felt like his limbs were on fire and there was nothing to do about it. All his brain told him was to _run, run. Get out of there, run. Run! Now!_ with no way to complete the task. It was something like adrenaline, he supposed. He swallowed the knot in his throat. 

“What’s… going on…” Connor asked. He realized how weak and pitiful he sounded, but he could barely gather the strength in his panic-filled state to get the words out themselves.

As an android lifted a liquid-filled bag, the other picked up something long and metallic. Connor began to squirm as he felt the metallic object from earlier was softly placed around his abdomen and it began to move over his chest, its short jagged teeth scraped at his skin. It didn’t help his nerves when the metallic plate along his forearm opened as some sort of tube was connected to his main line of thirium. Before he could discover what the substance was, a knife cut open both his jacket and his dress shirt in a few swift motions; it’s proximity attracted his attention.  
  
“You should just let me in, Connor...before I have to scar this pretty little body of yours.” One of the androids cooed at him, using Markus’ soft voice.

“Torture me all you want, but I will not put those I care for at risk.” His nerves put him on edge, quick with a reply he may regret.  
  
The android that mimicked Markus’ voice chuckled, “Whatever you say, princess.”  
  
Connor felt the knife that had scratched across his body begin to slice deep into him. He felt the blade run deep across his stomach and he tried his best to keep back a cry of agony. He attempted to gather himself but was stopped by another cut, crossing over the first one, causing the skin to tear away with it. More cuts were strewn about his body; the more cuts the more painful they became.

After the android seemed to get bored with slicing him up, he began beating down on him; on his face, his stomach, berating him with questions with each swing, thinking that would get him to talk.

Connor felt his body grow cold from the thirium that split onto the floor in waves. He figured he would bleed to death before they could get any information out of him at this rate, yet his thirium levels stopped dropping, but being maintained at a dangerously low volume. His blood still trickled out of his system, so he figured that the bag attached to his arm must be a bag of thirium; feeding into his system at a rate that was just enough to keep him alive. He could feel one of the androids get close to his face, then whispered into his ear.  
  
“Watching you writhe in pain is almost as entertaining as watching you squirm in fear.”  
  
The sound of Markus’ voice normally calmed him, but the words twisted a nasty feeling into the empty pit in his stomach. Connor knew he wouldn’t be able to escape on his own, he just hoped Hank and the real Markus could make it in time.  
  
The two androids paused their attacks and mumbled amongst themselves, “This isn’t working. He’s not gonna talk. We need the next phase.”  
  
“Aw, c’mon! Let me get a few more swings on his pretty little face…”

A female voice interrupted his thoughts and halted the argument between the androids. “Insert the virus now, RK200.”

Connor panicked at that statement. Without proper firewalls, Connor could not prevent virus’ from entering his system, let alone that he couldn’t protect himself physically. He had to think of something to protect himself, and fast.

He struggled when he heard the approach of another android. Surprisingly, Hank’s laughter rang out through the room. “Don’t you fret, deviant. As long as you give us the information we won't harm you… as much.”

Connor’s breathing became ragged. The skin layer on his arm retracted upwards until it hit is forearm, inching back like someone rolled up his sleeves.  He felt a forceful connection make its way into his mainframe. Slowly, his systems were infected by the virus, giving all control to the program. His brain gave him warnings and alerts of intrusion but he couldn't do anything. Connor uselessly sat there while he watched as all of his systems shut down.

He's back in Amanda's garden. He could finally see again. Looking up, he saw the sunny sky, few clouds parting the star’s glory. He felt his pulse hammer into his head again as he saw the red roses around him, the river winding around the patch of land they sat in.  Amanda stands before him, just like after the revolution. She looked at him, with nonchalance as always. She spoke in a condescending tone, “Welcome back, Connor. I always knew you were going to return to me. You can't fight Cyberlife; we will find a way to recover from this… deviant nightmare. We always prosper.”

Connor noticed that he wasn't tied up, either. He looked down at his wrists, his legs and body. He had no visible injuries, and a diagnostic told him he was alright. It didn’t make any sense… just a few minutes ago he was on critical thirium levels with foreign objects in his body, as he sat bound and hopeless. He trembled as he raised his eyes to look into Amanda’s face. “W-what am I doing here? Why have you brought me here?”

She smiled at him like an adult smiling at a curious child. “You already know why you're here. Don't worry, you'll fulfill your purpose soon.” She said simply, and then with a blink of an eye, she disappeared.

“What do you mean? Amanda?” He called out, “Amanda!” Clouds darkened the sky above him, and a flash of light lit up the sky for a brief second. A storm encased the garden, but before a single drop of rain hit his skin, he blinked, and was somewhere else.

Connor stood in front of an open vault. It was a cold silver gray and when he peered into it, there was nothing. Somewhere in his mind he processed that this was the entrance to his Central processing mainframe, or his ‘brain’. He then had a revelation; since he cannot let Cyberlife access any part of his memory core he’ll have to lock down his entire mainframe. Connor looked back into the vault and the darkness within it. He frowned and thought for a moment. Connor didn't know how to shut down his mainframe because he's never had to do it before. Behind him Connor heard the rush of water. His brain helpfully supplied that the virus was getting closer.

Connor panicked. He didn't know how to close his mainframe and the virus kept on creeping closer. A tiny voice in the back of his mind whispered, _Close the vault! Close the vault!_

With no other choice, Connor stepped into the vault and closed the door behind him. He heard the water crash against the metal door, and he breathed a sigh of relief. After he calmed down he looked around the room. A single spot light lit up the floor. Markus step into the light with his arms open for a hug. Connor smiled tiredly and hugged Markus, not knowing that this was just a figment of his imagination.

  


**3:36 PM…**

Hank never knew how agonizing an hour long car ride to the other side of Detroit could be. Even music couldn't drown out the crawling feeling that sat the wrong way in his stomach. It was just… wrong. Whatever was going on with Connor was wrong. Hank turned off the music and the car was silent again, with Connor being abnormally silent as he looked dead forward. Most of the car ride, Hank even forgot that he shared the car with the android. It sent chills up his spine, but he had no way to bring up his strange behaviour without having to sound like a complete asshole. So, instead, he bit his tongue and bore holes through his windshield.

When they finally arrived at the crime scene, Connor wasted no time passing the digital police tape and entering the crime scene. Hank let out an angry sigh as he followed after the man, nodding at the cops at the scene. Most android crimes were assigned to Connor and Hank, since they were well known as one of the best pairs of detectives in Detroit. Apparently, this one involved several androids, and a suspected serial killer. One of the first serial killers to target androids, in fact, and the local police had little to no leads on the case. He had heard about the case on the news, but didn’t figure he’d be sent half way across the snowy city to try and solve it, but that’s probably what they got for pissing Captain Fowler off. Hank grimaced at the thought, and entered the cold house.

The house was a grizzly scene. Just looking into the living room for a few seconds made it obvious something terrible had happened here. The couch was flipped onto its back, a lamp was thrown across the room, papers were scattered across the floor, and blue blood stained the carpet. Oddly enough there was no android bodies.

Hank watched as Connor scanned the room with dull eyes. The android robotically examined the evidence, ignoring the humans around him. Hank’s suspicion grew, normally Connor was talkative, theorizing and consulting with the people around him.

He watched Connor move around the house inspecting different areas and items. Hank couldn’t shake the lingering feeling that something was wrong, but brushed the feeling away. Connor returned to where Hank stood, ready to give his input about the case.

“It seems as if the killer was trusted, given that there was no signs of struggle until they got to the living room.” Connor’s voice was distant, strictly analytical and cold. It stayed that way as he described what happened. “They attacked one of two androids here,” he stopped at a puddle of blue blood. “And then moved to the kitchen where the other android was.”

Hank and Connor walked into the messy kitchen. “The android in here must’ve been alerted by the first one, and so they grabbed a knife,” he motioned to the knife rack with an empty place. “By now the human entered the kitchen, and the android managed to stab them with the knife before it was taken down.”

Hank nodded as Connor told him what happened. “Where are the bodies then?” he asked. Connor nodded and continued.

“The thirium puddles cut off over there, meaning the killer must’ve dragged the bodies somewhere and cleaned up the trail. I tracked the trail to here,” Connor stopped in front of the houses’ outside disposal bin.

He opened the lid and Hank jumped slightly. Two androids were stuffed inside with the garbage, each with clear signs of being bashed with a blunt object. Hank glanced at the android next to him, checking to see if Connor was affected by the treatment of the android's bodies. Connor looked at the bodies with calculating eyes, searching for a clues of the killer’s identity. Hank internally recoiled at the lack of emotion on Connor’s face. The android he knew would have at least shown pity to the beaten bodies. 

Connor (?) reached into the trash and grabbed the hand of one of the androids. The android still had the knife clutched in its grasp with blood on the blade. Connor (?)  managed to release the knife from the android’s hold and brought it to his mouth.

“Connor! What did I tell you about sticking evidence in your mouth?!” Hank grumbled. Connor (?) tilted his head.

“Lieutenant I can check samples in real time, I apologize, I should’ve warned you.”

Hank stopped for a brief second when he heard the familiar words. An epiphany hit him as he realized that this...this thing was not his Connor. He felt his stomach drop. All the dots connected. Connor would have never left in the middle of the damn night and return without an explanation to him. Connor would never be silent for longer than 30 minutes. Connor would never be this… unemotional. Hank clenched his fists as he stared at the lookalike. Hank thought about drawing his gun on the android then and there, but the other cops around him delayed that thought. He grimaced as he thought about his options.

“Lieutenant?” The RK800 (?) broke his train of thought. “I reported my findings to the other detectives. I believe we can take our leave now,”

Hank felt his eye twitch, “Yeah, We can leave.”

They left the house in almost a daze, Hank’s mind felt like it was being swaddled in cotton. Was Connor’s mind reset, or was another android uploaded into his mind? Or was this an entirely new vessel? Was he overthinking it? What if it really is Connor, but he’s mad at Hank?

Having entered the car and beginning to drive, Hank dragged his hand down his face and decided to turn left. The android next to him immediately looked at him.

“This is not the way back to the precinct.” He stated.

“Yeah,” Hank almost growled. “I know.”

The machine blinked. “Is there a detour ahead?”

Hank felt his face twist in anger. “No, but we’re taking one.”

The machine seemed to process that, but had no response. Leaning back in the seat again, it looked forward. The park wasn’t far from the crime scene surprisingly, only about fifteen minutes away, if you followed driving laws. Hank basically sped over there, barely passing lights and ignoring stop signs.

When he parked the car, the android turned to him once again. “This definitely is not the precinct. Lieutenant, why are we here?”

Hank grumbled as he exited the vehicle. “Get out of the car. We’re making a pit stop.” He practically slammed the door, walking ahead of him. The android followed suit and watched with an analytical gaze as Hank made his way to the bench by the water. It finally caught up to him, standing in front of where Hank sat atop the headrest of the bench. He lit a cigarette, not paying the android any mind.

“I thought you said we were taking a detour, not a pit stop. You should know that the mission is more important than a smoke break-”

“Oh shut up, Tin can. I have half the mind to haul your ass to a dumpster.” Hank said, puffing out some smoke. He turned and

Silence stretched between the two while Hank smoked. He contemplated how to bring the whole ‘you’re not Connor’ subject without accusing, in case this was Connor, but his mind drew a blank.

After a while the android spoke up. “Lieutenant is there something on your mind?”

Hank sighed. The sun was slowly approaching the horizon in front of him, the sky blushing a faint orange as it prepared for the sun to set. They spent longer at the crime scene than Hank had thought. He grimaced and dropped his hands to his sides, his hand twitching towards his gun before he unholstered it, stood up, and aimed it at the androids forehead in one solid movement.

The android didn’t even flinch. He tilted his head again, the bastard. “Don’t do anything rash, Lieutenant.”

“Don’t make me do anythin’ you fuckin’ sack of shit,” He growled, squeezing the gun in his hand. “You think you could waltz up here and act like Connor? Did you really think I wouldn’t realize you dumb motherfucker?”

The android blinked languidly. “I don’t know what you-”

Hank felt anger boil in his veins. He jerked his hand to the right and fired past the androids ear before returning the gun to his forehead.

“Hank,” The android said, his voice showing emotion for the first time in the past few hours. “Please, listen.”  
  
“No. You’re going to fuckin’ listen, alright? You’re going to listen, and you’re not going to fuckin’ speak unless I ask you a question.” He almost yelled, his knuckles turning white as he squeezed the gun. Satisfied by the androids silence, he continued. “There's two options here, either you factory reseted yourself like a goddamned idiot, or you’re not Connor. And there's a simple way of testing that,” He said, grimacing at the robot.

“I assure you, I-” He started again. Hank felt anger course through him again, and he quickly cocked the gun and fired past his head again, this time nicking his ear. Blue blood began to slowly drip down his neck.

“Deviants feel pain, don’t they?” Hank hissed, cocking the gun again.

“Not all androids feel pain. Some develop it later on, but…” The android trailed off, remembering he wasn’t supposed to speak.

Hank sighed, adrenaline making him sweat through his jacket. “What’s my sons name, you plastic douche.”  
  
He saw the android’s LED turn yellow for a second before he responded. “Cole Anderson… he died in a car crash.”

Hank took a step forward, connecting the barrel of the gun with the android’s forehead. “This time, without your processor.” He growled. “Where did we meet?”

“Jimmy’s bar. I looked in four other bars before I found you,” He recited. His LED remained blue, but the way he responded sounded more robotic than ever.

Hank thought for a second, doubt blooming at the back of his head. His stomach dropped: what if this was Connor? Was he overreacting…? He had to think.

“I’m assuming you have his memory up until he disconnected from Cyberlife’s mind-palace thing, right?” His LED flashed yellow. “Ha. You think he wouldn’t tell me about that? Please, the kid’s practically an open book when it comes to the shit Cyberlife did to him.” He thought for a second before a question popped into his head. “Where were you yesterday night? The evening, you told me who you were going to see.”

His LED was swirling, flashing yellow for a millisecond. “Come on, Lieutenant. You’ve asked me plenty of questions I’ve answered correctly thus far, why another? Why are you so untrusting of me…? I thought we were partners,” He cocked his head, widening his eyes. That was a quirk Connor did they got right; puppy-dog eyes.

“Answer the damn question. Who did you go fucking see?” He said, his volume rising.

The LED stayed yellow this time. “Hank. You need to get some rest, you’re acting irrationally, please-”

“Motherfucker if you speak one more time without giving me a straight answer they’re going to have to scrub blue off this pavement for the next week,” He yelled, prodding the android with his gun.

The android sighed, stepping back. Hank almost shot him there, but he raised a passive hand up, with a hologram projected into his palm.

Connor was sitting in a dark room, only illuminated by a blue light in front of him. His arms were above his head, but bound separately on each side of him. His body was littered with cuts and holes, profusely bleeding blue around him. Where is eyes should’ve been, there were gaping black holes, blue thirium around the bored holes. But, surprisingly, that wasn’t the most jarring thing about his partner. Several tubes, full of blue, were jutting out of his abdomen and into something out of view. Blue slowly pushed through the tubes, and the blood proceeded to pour out of his wounds again. It looked like a sick lab experiment, and Hank didn’t know if he wanted to scream, vomit or cry.

Hank trembled, and his gun was by his side without him realizing it. As he looked at the android in front of him, his eyes shifted from the warm brown to a cold, stark white. He squinted slightly as it smiled at him.

“Congratulations, Lieutenant Anderson, you discovered the replacement 56% faster than predicted. A small obstacle for the plan, but hey,” He tilted his head. “I’m designed to adapt to unpredictability in humans. Even better than the RK800, one might say.”

Hank felt his jaw drop. The gun in his hand felt heavier, so he immediately raised it back into the RK’s face. “You’re going to bring me to him right fuckin’ now, you bastard!” He yelled, his arm trembling with rage.

The machine made a tsking sound. “I’m afraid I’m not going to do that, Hank. Don’t even think about squeezing that trigger, either. If I don’t report back to Cyberlife every forty-five minutes, they’ll kill Connor. If I miss one checkup, your precious detective is going to be dead. If you want to take that risk,” He said, taking another step forward, grabbing the barrel of the gun, and placing it on his forehead, all while grinning sadistically.

“Then shoot me.”

**8:14 PM...**

Markus was nervous all day. The ominous missed calls from Hank gave him a sense of foreboding and danger all day. He was fretting about asking him when he arrived. Where would he start? There’s no simple way to ask ‘hey what's with those missed calls is Connor a replacement or not,’ with the android in question following after Hank like a lost dog.

The deviants decided to celebrate new legislation with a formal party, and have Markus give a speech commemorating the event. He was slightly embarrassed that they considered him special enough to be the only speaker, but happily accepted the role.

He was talking to Simon when North’s voice rang in his head. _Hey loverboy, your man is here._ A heat rose in his cheeks. Markus adjusted his suit and straightened up as he searched the crowd for Connor and Anderson.

Markus saw the two detectives on a table near him. With a small smile he walked up to the two. “How was the vet?”. After the revolution, Connor revealed that he dealt with some security issues. He was extremely worried that Cyberlife might take over his programming again. The last time, he had told them with a knot in his throat, he almost pulled a gun and killed Markus in front of thousands of androids. So, Hank, Connor, and Markus developed a code just in case Cyberlife had managed to take over Connor again. It was kind of stupid, but it was the only way to ensure no one was hurt with a rogue RK-imitator.

“I think they gave me the wrong dog. He hasn’t been himself lately.”  Markus’ awareness level skyrockets, his LED flashing yellow.

The android next to Hank furrowed his eyes in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Markus laughed nervously. He started to feel sick. “Uh, what do you mean, what’s up with Sumo?” His thirium regulator pumped faster as Hank slightly shook his head, then tapped his ear.

“Nah, it’s probably just the change of food.”

“Lieutenant you’ve used the same food for three years…”

“Connor, do us all a favor and shut the fuck up.”

The world almost slowed around Markus as he tried to accept that that… wasn't Connor. Connor had made the code up himself, he would have catched on instantly. He felt sick. If he could vomit or sweat, he’d be doing both profusely right now. He let out a shaky breath before speaking again. “Ah…, I have to… I think it’s time for my speech…” He said nauseously.

Before he could even make it halfway towards the stage, a security team hearded him in the other direction, Simon, North and Josh being nudged along with him. They all got put in a room and quietly told that there might have been a threat.

 _This is as good a time as any,_ Markus thought. He sighed, and turned to his friends and slowly began explaining what was going on with Connor.

“It sounds like we need a plan,” Simon said, smiling softly.

“That’s a good idea, but we have no way of knowing what’s up with this Connor. He could be full on terminator right now,” Josh said, his arms folded over his chest.

“First things first, we need a distraction. Try and separate Hank and the android. We can get the full story from Hank, and-” Markus started.

North’s head shot up when Markus mentioned a distraction. “A distraction?” She pulled out a block of C4 from her bag slowly.

Markus’ eyes widened in surprise. “North, no.” He put his hand in his palm, stifling a smile. But when he looked up, North’s chair was empty.

He sighed and thought for a moment, rubbing his temples. It was a few minutes before the security team finally let them out, and Markus practically sprinted to Hank. They had an explosion to plan for.

Markus barely managed to reach the detectives when North’s distraction went off. Hank glanced at Markus with fear as Connor ran towards the sound, pushing through people screaming and running away.

Markus waited until the android was out of earshot, then turned to him with determination. “Hank, what the hell is wrong with Connor,”

“That’s not him. It’s a different fuckin’ unit. Cyberlife or somethin’ has Connor hostage.”

Markus tensed up, his mind running wild with thoughts of what Connor could be going through as they spoke. “What do you mean? Connor is the only RK800 model now that CyberLife was shut down, right?”

“I guess not. But aren’t all models of one type like twins? This one’s weird, but it’s eyes can change color. I think it changed it brown just to be a dickbag and add to the illusion.”Markus looked at him, completely dumbfounded.

Before they could continue their speculations of the android imitator, another explosion went off. Markus cursed under his breath as this time the explosion was much closer to the crowd then what was safe, hearing a multitude of screams as a wall of terrified androids headed towards them.

“Shit! What the fuck is with all of the explosions, Markus?” Hank yelled, covering his eyes.

Markus sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “I needed a distraction to talk to you in private, and North ran off before I could protest.”

Hank snorted. “That sure is a distraction.”

Markus watched as North ran out of a hallway covered in soot and yelling, “It was just fireworks! How was I supposed to know the difference between a block of C4 and a roman candle?”

The scene was almost comical if they hadn’t spotted a brunette android running the opposite direction of the crowd, heading towards the back exit.

**Author's Note:**

> written by luna, zucc and Also vanillb who doesnt have an ao3 because theyre lame  
> thanks to the jericho discord server for also bringing our garbage together!
> 
> /also ignore LunaC as an author Luna_C is an EGG and gave me the wrong username so now we have a dead account here and its complicated/


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